47% graduates in India are unemployable for any job: Report

NEW DELHI: At least 47% of graduates in India are not employable for any industry role, according the latest report by employability solutions firm Aspiring Minds.

The report is based on a pan-India study of 60,000 graduates across colleges.

According to the report, 47% graduates are not employable in any sector of the knowledge economy. The employability of graduates varies from 2.59% in functional roles such as accounting to 15.88% in sales-related roles and 21.37% for roles in the business process outsourcing (BPO/ITeS) sector.

A significant proportion of graduates, nearly 47%, were found not employable in any sector, given their lack of proficiency in English and cognitive skills.

Since a graduation degree is considered a pathway to a job in the knowledge economy, substantive intervention at the school and college level is needed to improve basic skills of students. A renewed focus on vocational training should be re-emphasised, said the report.

The employability varies from role to role based on varying degrees of proficiency required in language and cognitive skills.

For an analyst's role, close to 84% graduates were found to lack the right levels in cognitive ability, while 90% graduates did not have the required proficiency in English communication. As a result, less than 3% of India's graduates remain unemployable across different job profiles. These numbers change dramatically for a teaching role or a sales or support role in the industry.

Over 40% employable graduates are beyond the top 30% colleges and have no way to signal their employability to potential recruiters.

41% of graduates employable in accounting roles hail from colleges beyond the top 30% colleges, whereas for the IT services sector this percentage is 36%.

Despite being employable, these students have no way to signal their employability to recruiters who end up recruiting only from reputed colleges and universities.

"This study is a first of its kind for three-year degree graduates across India evaluating employability for major roles being offered by industry. The alarming statistics of nearly half of the country's graduates not being employable in the knowledge economy needs great attention with interventions at both the school and higher education levels," Varun Aggarwal, co-founder, Aspiring Minds said in a statement.